First half dooms team despite 4th quarter comeback

In IU’s last three games, the team has had a quarter that it scored 21 points. Two of those three times, it wasn’t enough.

A 21-point rally in the fourth quarter Saturday couldn’t win the game for the Hoosiers (1-3), and they fell to North Texas (1-3), 24-21. They also scored 21 in the fourth quarter against Virginia on Sept. 10 and lost 34-31.

From the opening quarter, the Mean Green rushing attack stymied the Hoosier defense.

North Texas, led by senior running back Lance Dunbar, totaled 371 yards in the first half, already eclipsing their 253.3 average yards per game. In the first half, Dunbar totaled 229 total yards.

“This win is so meaningful to so many people,” North Texas Coach Dan McCarney said in a press release. “It’s a reward for the hard work done by a lot of people. This is about as good as it gets on game day.”

For the Hoosiers, it was about as bad as it could have been for three quarters. IU  was unsuccessful on its first 12 possessions and was unable to effectively run the ball.

With just 50 yards on the ground, IU was forced to pass 52 times. It was the most passing attempts in a game since the season-ending win against Purdue last season.

Sophomore quarterback Edward Wright-Baker completed 23 of his 40 passes for 209 yards and threw an interception. For the final two drives of the game, IU Coach Kevin Wilson and his staff decided to go with sophomore Dusty Kiel as quarterback.

“We just went for a change,” Wilson said in the press conference. “We played three quarters, hadn’t gotten to the end zone, and we were just looking for a little bit of a spark.”

On his first series since playing against Virginia, Kiel found freshman wide receiver Cody Latimer for a 44-yard score, and when a North Texas defender lost his shoe and sat down to put it back on, he found a wide open sophomore Kofi Hughes for a 67-yard score.

“Bottom line, they didn’t get lined up,” Wilson said. “They kind of messed up and we got lucky, maybe had the right call on. Our kid saw it and took advantage. (It was) a little bit of them helping us as much as anything.”

Just as it was against Virginia, the Saturday rally — which began with a 31-yard interception return for a touchdown from freshman safety Mark Murphy — came too late for IU.

When the Mean Green recovered an onside kick with a minute remaining, IU was unable to stop them from taking a knee and watching the clock expire.

During the second half, IU’s defense allowed just 56 total yards, while the IU offense tallied 241 of its own. During the course of the game, IU forced three turnovers. Senior defensive end Darius Johnson forced and recovered one fumble.

IU’s starting lineup was dotted with true freshman, like running back D’Angelo Roberts, who won Big Ten Freshman of the Week for his performance last week against South Carolina State. Latimer and offensive guard Bernard Taylor also started.

North Texas avoided a 0-4 start for the first time since 2008 and won against a BCS automatic qualifying school for the first time since Baylor in 2003. IU fell to 1-3 going into Big Ten season. Wilson said it was mostly because of the first half Saturday.

“We did battle in the second half, but maybe they relaxed and didn’t play like they needed to, so we gave ourselves a chance,” Wilson said. “I think defensively, we only gave up three points in the second half ... but bad start, not very good defense early and a horrible offense.”